Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading
by RaspBerryStars
Summary: She's never been a people person. Not even when she was young and couldn't tell the difference although Lily can't remember a time when the difference from herself and the rest of the world wasn't perfectly clear.


**Title:** Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading  
**Author: **quick-ly  
**Character:** Lily Luna Potter  
**Rating:** T  
**Summary:** She's never been a people person. Not even when she was young and couldn't tell the difference (although Lily can't remember a time when the difference from herself and the rest of the world wasn't perfectly clear.)  
**Disclaimer:** All Harry Potter characters ARE property of J.K. Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended.  
**Author's Notes:** Man, this came out of nowhere. When I got up yesterday I had zero plans to write a next gen. character piece, but I'm glad I did, cause I've been wanting to write Lily for such a long time, although It should be noted that my version of Lily is probably pretty AU. In my world, Lily is a super smart (Not exactly _Good Will Hunting_, but pretty darn close), is a total bookworm, and I bit anti-social. Not sure why that's how I see her, but whatever. I hope you enjoy the fic. Also, just an FYI; I'm looking for a good beta, so if you know anyone, or if you're a beta yourself and would like to help me out let me know :)

* * *

She's never been a people person. Not even when she was young and couldn't tell the difference (although Lily can't remember a time when the difference from herself and the rest of the world wasn't perfectly clear.) It's always just been this way; aside from her blood relatives and family friends, Lily finds the majority of people she meets obnoxious and intolerant. (It's not as though she hates _everyone_ she meets, just most of them.)

And really, Lily can't tell why she's the only one.

**.**

She picks up her first book at one. Not to read of course; it was just sitting on the floor and the one-year-old Lily Luna Potter found it intriguing. It was. Lily moves it towards her and begins to turn the pages. She doesn't understand why she knows that's what to do. She just does.

And although she's young and doesn't really 'get' a lot per say, Lily immediately knows that this is the greatest moment of her life.

And then her mother comes and takes it away.

She picks up her first book for real at four. It's some old learning-to-read type book for James, but he just tosses it aside and tries to make a spoon flout. (He fails.) Lily picks up the book titled "_Olla the Owl _– for ages 7 to 9_"_. It's different then the one she held last (she doesn't really remember the last time she held a book; she just knows she has.) It's made of some kind of plastic and the words are much bigger. "Olla was a happy owl, that was quite true. Olla was the best owl, better then Hoo," she reads

James turns away from his spoon (which still isn't moving.) "How'd you read that?"

All Lily could do was raise her shoulders.

James, who was clearly bored with the never-moving spoon, snatched away _Olla the Owl_ and left the room.

And, although clearly disappointed by the loss of the book, Lily smiled, because in that small amount of time she a learned two things. The first was that she was good at something (because that book said for ages seven to nine, and she was four.) The second was that she was good at something she loved.

(What Lily was unaware of then was that in time she would prove to be extraordinary to an unaverage extent at the majority of things she did.)

And, just for the hell of it, Lily tried to move the spoon. It rose in the air and flouted.

**.**

Up until age eight, Lily never held gifts or presents in any particular light. It's not as though she disliked them; when a person gives you something to show their love for you it's very nice, she always thought. However, she had never really, for lack of better words, _enjoyed_ presents. To say, she liked that someone loved her enough to give her something, but the object itself would never dazzle her. A gift was a gift, and besides having to remember to send a thank-you and get the gift-buyer something in return, Lily never thought much of them.

However, at age eight that all changed.

It was a warm summer day, and, as a special present for James (who would be starting Hogwarts that fall) Teddy had brought over all his old school books. James didn't really see books as a present ("a present supposed to be fun") and opted to play tag instead. And so, as the boys chased each other around, Lily picked up_ The Standard Book of Spells Grade 1_, along with a notepad and pencil, and began reading and taking notes. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

It takes her about seven months to get through all the first year books, and that's including the time she's taking neat, detailed notes, and reading a few adult novels for fun.

And this becomes her thing. For the next few years (ages eight and a half to fourteen) Lily reads the school books for all seven grades while taking detailed notes. It's not an obligation and Lily doesn't make it one; she just does it because she likes too. It comes in handy later in life.

**.**

Ever since she could properly compare the two, Lily's enjoyed muggle literature best. Wizards, she says, are too bulky when it comes to stuff like that. She says they don't really know how to write pain and loss. It's not their fault, Lily reassures; "wizards have a whole skill-sets muggles don't, so it's only natural for them to not always understand some forms of pain the way muggles do. However, that doesn't change the fact that reading all about the witch who had the perfect, pain-free life isn't very enjoyable."

So she retreats to the muggle-written classics, starting with Mark Twain and moving up. In no time Lily's read all Jane Austen and Brontë sisters work, along with Shakespeare and a million other treasures. Some would call it boring, Lily calls it riveting.

And so, this is how on October 23rd of her tenth year of living, Lily meets her first real friend.

She's in the muggle bookshop a block away from home, looking up _Little Women_, when a boy about her age runs into her and she falls to the ground with a load _thump_.

_This is why I don't like people_ are the first thoughts in her mind before laying eyes on the boy and realizing from the look on his face that this all was an accident. He has chestnut brown hair, eyes to match and a look of pure terror on his features.

"I'm sorry" he says quickly, blushing and trying his best to help her up (his hand seems to be going rigid so it's not much help.) As Lily stands and tries to ask whats wrong, three other boys who seem to be one or two years older come down the hall. Ignoring Lily, they go up to the boy whose name she doesn't know and begin to hit and punch him and, although she's only known this boy for a few moment (twenty-five percent of those moments being him knocking her to the ground), Lily feels a large amount of sympathy for him. This is odd, as Lily has never been a particularly sympathetic person, but watching this poor boy get beaten up sparks something in her. So, in this moment of almost-panic (she never fully-panics) Lily does something that in later years she'll prove to be very good; magic.

It's nothing really special; there are a few stacks of books on the top of the shelf, and with the proper amount of control (which she always has) they are falling down and landing of the heads of the means kids (missing the chestnut haired boy.) Right after they fall, Lily picks up one and throws it at them, and perhaps it's of shock or these kids are just really stupid, but the sound of three boys running away in terror fills the bookshop. She helps the other boy up.

"How'd you do that?" he asks, and somehow Lily knows she doesn't have to answer (it's always been a talent of hers; reading people.) The boy seems to be blushing again, and he says very quietly "I mean, thank you."

"It's fine. I'm Lily."

"I'm Ned."

And this is what she learns about Ned; he was one month older then her but about an inch shorter; he had lived in the same house for the fist eight years of his life until his parents divorced and his mother remarried a man with three boys who liked to use him as a punching bag; he was very, very shy and seemed to be afraid of angering people; and he liked to whistle.

And this is what Ned learns about Lily; she lived down the block and liked to read. (Admittedly the fact that she was a witch was not the entire reason for her revealing so little; she had thought about saying she had two brothers and a loving mother and father, but considering his home life, she decided against it.)

In no time they became friends. Best friends.

He liked that she was nice and really listened to him. She liked that he was friendly and didn't judge her for being somewhat of an anti-social bookworm. They evened each other out. It was, in a way, the perfect duo.

**.**

She never found Hogwarts to be the most amazing place on earth. It wasn't bad but it wasn't awesome. It just was.

She's placed in Gryffindor after some serious Slytherin consideration. The hat says she's the most cunning person he's ever sat on, and then spends so much time debating between the two houses that he finally just has to ask "which one would you prefer?" and, although Lily hardly considers this an answer, "well, most of my family's been in Gryffindor" gets her in said house. She's doesn't dwell on this too much, Gryffindor feels right.

Besides all that, school is pretty boring. The classes are all easy (for her at least), and the only interesting thing she's learned that she didn't already know (she tends to have memorized the current school books years before necessary) is that, besides the eyes, she looks identical to her grandmother. The hair, her facial features, several of her expressions. After a while she stops counting how many times someone has gone up to her looking as if they've seen a ghost, going "Lily?" and forcing her to say "I'm her granddaughter." She doesn't really like this because they always get a little upset.

She's far ahead of her peers (turns out, reading all those textbooks paid off. She also seems to have a bit of a photographic memory.) In fourth year she starts (and quickly masters) non-verbal spells, and by fifteen she can call her self a full fledged Occlumens. She doesn't think much of it; it all just comes natural to her, being far more intelligent then the average person three years her senior.

Her favorite part of school is writing and receiving notes from Ned. They correspond through Teddy (she originally had to blackmail him by threatening to tell Uncle Bill that he'd been sleeping with Victoire), so notes usually took a little longer then one would like, but to Lily it didn't really matter; the joy of getting a letter was so strong it could last for days, because he really was her only friend. Not in the matter of people liking her and her liking them; she felt that way about all her cousins and some family friends. But Ned was the only one who she could really trust, really talk to. He could somehow effortlessly understand her and she him.

So, it should come as no surprise that when they were sixteen and he kissed her, she kissed him back.

**.**

Leaving Hogwarts when she's seventeen feels odd. A part of her wants to be sad and to have feelings of unhappiness at leaving a place she has live at for so long, but the feelings never come; Lily's never been good with feelings.

And she marries Ned. He's sweet and caring and understands her, and the fact the he can't do magic means absolutely nothing.

And it's a private, quiet, smart wedding. Just like her.

* * *

Reviews are always loved :)


End file.
